The 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron is scheduled to complete the final-phase of operational testing for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile - Extended Range (JASSM-ER) in late August, marking a significant step toward operational employment.

JASSM-ER is an autonomous, air-to-ground, precision-guided standoff missile designed to meet the needs of U.S. warfighters. It shares the same powerful capabilities and stealthy characteristics of the baseline JASSM, but with more than two-and-a-half times the range.

"Although it looks the same and provides all the capabilities of the baseline missile, it has a new engine and larger fuel load capability," said Capt. Philip Atkinson, who works with the 337th TES. "This allows it to extend its range to more than 500 nautical miles (around 900 kms), compared to the old system's range of 200 nautical miles."

Like the original JASSM, the new missile uses its inertial navigation and global positioning systems to find its intended target, then its infrared seeker for pinpoint accuracy right before impact.

Furthermore, the cruise missile is able to operate in heavily degraded GPS environments.

"One of the emphasis items is to be able to operate in contested and degraded environments," Atkinson said. "One of the things the military relies heavily on is GPS, and we have demonstrated the ability to operate with intense GPS jamming. Even without GPS, the JASSM can find its target due to its internal sensor."

The US Air Force studied various improvements to the AGM-158, resulting in the development of the JASSM-Extended Range (JASSM-ER), which received the designation AGM-158B in 2002. Using a more efficient engine and larger fuel volume in an airframe with the same external dimensions as the JASSM, the JASSM-ER is intended to have a range of over 575 miles (925 km) as compared to the JASSM's range of about 230 miles (370 km). Other possible improvements were studied but ultimately not pursued, including a submunition dispenser warhead, new types of homing head, and a new engine giving ranges in excess of 1,000 km (600 mi). The JASSM-ER has 70% hardware commonality and 95% software commonality with the original AGM-158 JASSM.

The first flight test of the JASSM-ER occurred on May 18, 2006 when a missile was launched from a U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The JASSM-ER is expected to be fully operational and ready to deploy in 2013. The initial platform for the JASSM-ER will be the B-1.While both the original JASSM and the JASSM-ER are several inches too long to be carried in the internal weapons bay of the F-35 Lightning II, the F-35 will be able to carry both missiles externally, although this will compromise the aircraft's stealth features.[12]

"The B-1 is the very first aircraft to get it, so we will be the only JASSM-ER platform for years to come," Atkinson said. "As we shift our emphasis from the Middle East to the Pacific, as heavily defended as that region is, the JASSM combined with the B-1 presents a top choice for combatant commanders."

Like the baseline version, JASSM-ER will be capable of employment on the B-2 Spirit, B-52 Stratofortress, F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon. However, the B-1 is able to carry 24 of the long-range missiles; that is twice as many as the B-52.

"The B-1 is the premier aircraft to employ this new weapon due to the quantity we can carry, flexibility in terms of mission sets we take care of and targeting flexibility," Atkinson said. "Also, JASSM shots can be either mission planned against fixed targets or can be retargeted dynamically in flight with waypoints, a feature unique to the B-1."

The missile uses autonomous navigation, based on inertial and GPS navigation systems, to follow a pre-planned route which will bring it to the target area. Once in predesignated location, the missile uses its imaging infrared seeker and on-board, real-time Automatic Target Correlating (ATC) algorithms to precisely locate and guide the missile to the desired target aimpoint. Lockheed Martin's ATC algorithms use an insensitive, redundant approach and real-time processors to provide a robust system that significantly reduces the missile's impact circular error probability (CEP) any time of the day or night. This allows the missile to hit a precise spot, such as a specific point in a hardened bunker, cave entry or ventilation shaft, using a target model that was built months earlier.

To make the missile more immune to GPS deception and jamming, JASSM Block 1A missiles are equipped with the Selective Availability Anti-spoofing Module (SAASM) technology - an enhanced, digital anti-jam Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. This capability gives JASSM the ability to successfully complete its mission even in intense jamming environments.

The entire system is prepared on the mission planning system. A typical mission can be planned in less than 30 minutes. JASSM is equipped with a 1,000 lb dual mode blast-fragmentation penetrator warhead for maximum effect against soft or hard targets. The missile is designed to fly low-level terrain following flight path, which enables effective bypassing of most enemy defenses. The advantages of its low observable properties ensure its survivability during the missile ingress to the target. The missile is also prepared to engage enemy jammers.

One of the unique features of the current model of JASSM is its capability to send back a sequence of pre-strike images of the target, just before impact. Such information provides partial battle damage assessment (BDA) capability and eliminates the need to send dedicated recce assets to verify the results of the strike.

The ER version maintains the same outer mold lines of the stealthy airframe, which makes JASSM extremely difficult for air defense systems to engage. It also retains the dual-mode penetration and blast fragmentation warhead of the baseline JASSM missile. This capability will transform JASSM into a network-enabled system, providing in-flight re-routing, retargeting, or aimpoint refinements and blue-force tracking, to eliminate fratricide risks. The introduction of the JASSM-ER will also provide limited loitering capability or further range extension beyond 500nm. Loitering will enable planners to more flexibly integrate JASSM with other means of attacks, such as decoys, defense suppression weapons etc.